Having clocked thousands of crores at the box offices across the globe and winning multiple national awards, the producers of Baahubali 1 and 2 have no plans for making a film right now. Rather, they want to tap the success of their magnum opus, certainly among the biggest hits ever produced in the history of Indian Cinema, in different platforms.
“We know that we can’t surpass the Baahubali right now. But we also want to do something bigger and it need not be in terms of budget. It can be a great concept, something more interesting. We want to keep experimenting,” says Prasad Devineni, co-producer of the Baahubali and a board member of Arka Media Works.
Now, the Baahubali merchandise is doing very well with the animation series, being the ‘most viewed content’ on Amazon Prime, he adds. The production house is now looking at launching a live online action series that will go live next year.
Vizag days
Mr. Devineni, who was in the city recently, spoke to The Hindu about his experiences of Visakhapatnam and future plans. “My father retired in Vizag as a senior executive in the Indian Oil Corporation. I did my intermediate from BVK College. I was living with my parents from 1996 and 2000. You could say those were the toughest days of my life,” he says.
Probably, a few know that the co-producer of Baahubali had started his first business of shrimp exports in the city and but it tanked. “I learnt what could go wrong in a business in those four years. It was a learning curve for me. My formative years of learning have been in Vizag,” he says.
Hyderabad journey
It was after the first bad experience in business that Mr Devineni moved to Hyderabad and he got together with his business partner Shobu Yarlagadda to start Arka Media Works in 2001. “We have done 30 different television shows across six languages— Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Kannada and Telugu, apart from films,” he added.
Speaking about his association with S.S. Rajamouli, Mr. Devineni calls the director of Baahubali more than a friend. “Our association goes back to 2001 when Mr. Rajamouli directed his first television series ‘Shanti Nivasam’ for Arka Media Works,” he reminisces.
With his father based in Vizag, Mr. Devineni still visits the city once a month and loves spending time with his friends here. “My favourite hangout in the city is Waltair Club. During 1996-2000, I was a frequent visitor of Beach Road. But, it’s too crowded now. The city has also changed a lot for good. It is wonderfully clean and green,” he says.
Schools for the poor
Mr. Devineni says his aim is to build a school for children from financially weaker sections of the society. “We have built a school in Macherla in Guntur, which provides free education for students from classes 1 to 10. I want to replicate the same model here. I am talking to the same management to see if they can start something in the city,” he adds.
